Tape printing machine



S u.20,1949.- E.M.HANRAHAN ETAL TAPE PRINTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Au 16, 1946 7, EMERY M.HANRAHAN WILLIAM A.MERT\NS ATfbRNEYS 20,1949. E. M. HANRAHAN ET AL 2,432,542

TAPE PRINTING MACHINE I v 2 Sheets-Sheei 2 Filed Aug. 16, 1946 EMERY M.HANRAHAN WILLIAM AMERTINS ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 20, 1949 2,482,542TAPE PBINTING Emery MQ-Hanrahan, Kenosha, and William A.

Merti'ns, Racine, Wis.

I ApplicationAugust- 16, 1946, Serial No 691,007"

- I 1 Claim;

Our invention refers t printing, machines for listing various articlesof commerce.

The primary object of our inventionis to provide a machine which willprint upon, a paper tape memorandum lists: of. commodities, ordersrequired in supplying foods for household use or thelike. I

It is understood that the printed lists may be used in stores for the,aid of clerks and customers, the same being providedfwith prices of eacharticle vendedand; in some instances, the charged prices. oi theprintedarticles may appear upon the tape and said prices may beinterchangeable by removable slugs carried in the type drum.

With the above and other, objects in view, which will appear as. the.description proceeds, the invention resides in the novel construction,combination and arrangement of parts, substantially as. hereinafterdescribed, and more particularly defined by the appended claim, it beingunderstood that suchchangesin the. precise embodiment of. the hereindisclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims iIn thc'accompanying drawings is illustrated one complete example of thephysical embodimentof the present invention constructed according tothebest mode so far devised for the practical application. ofgtheprinciples thereof.

In the drawings Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a printingmachine. embodying the ,jfeatures of our invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same, the section beingindicated by line 22 of Figure 3.

Fig. 3' is a plan view of the machine with parts broken away and insection to more clearly illustrate structural features.

Fig; 4riS a cross section ofv the machine through the printingmechanism, H the 1 section being ;indicated by line 4-4 of Figure 1. 1 r

Fig.5 is a similar cross sectionof the machine upon another plan asindicatedby line 5 5; of Figure 1. V

Fig. 6 is a perspective Fig. '7 is a: detailed perspective-view of aprice slug adapted to be adjusted to the .druim' 1 Referring bycharacters to the drawings, l indicates a housing having a bed 2 and arear neck 3 projecting above the bed. The housing has pivotally mountedtherein a spool of paper tape 4, the same having a core'5, through whichextends a pivot rod 6 in threaded union with one lvl e (if ype carryingof v the side walls of the housing. The spool of tape 4 is frictionallyheld by a leaf spring I secured to across strip 1" of the-housing; Thepaper strip 4 slidabl'y engages the housing bed 2' and it.- is guidedthroughaforwardly positioned shear strip 8, secured to the housing sidewalls asshown, Y r

When desired to renew the paper tape roll, the same is simplyinserted upthrough the bottom of the housing, the pivot rod- 6 centered in thecore. and thereafter the free end of the tape is moved along the housingbed 2 and threaded under the shear strip 8,; its-being understood thatthe bed 2 is provided. with arm-opening 2' at the front end of themachine.

A type drum a is positionedunder the bed opening 2 and is pivotallymounted upon a spindle, which spindle is in threaded union with one. ofthedrum heads and the same is rotatablymounted in bearingsformed in. thehousing, 1

The front bearing of the spindle is journaled in anear M, which earextends-fromon-eof the side walls of. the housing and i-t is mergedintoa circular opening li in saids-ide wall. The car it is'prov-ided withavertical pointer I 2 and an indenti re l2", whichi-ndentureis adaptedto snap into any one of a series of depressions l3 spaced aneqhaldistance apart about tiled-rum end.

Secured to theperiphery of the drum is a sleeve 14, provided withlinesof raised type indicating such: commodities as'butteneg-gs, or the like,as best shown in Figure 6 of the drawings-.. The sleeveisheld againstrotation upon the drum by pins 15 engaging holes in the adjacent drumhead -the said pins forming parts of downturned ears: t5 of the sleeve il" g The opposite end'of the typedrum is provided with a series at dovetailedchannels i6 for the reception of typelugsll having. correspondingdove-tailed rail portions H adapted to fit into thev channels L6,. asbest indicated in Figure 6 of the drawings. 'By the above arrangement oftype drum: is apparent that. the slugs H are provided; with upstandingnumber type to indicate the price of any one of the commodities whichare displayed in the type alined with said slug -When it-isdesired toprint a series of commodities uponithetape 4; it will be: noted thatthe-type oithis articularcommodity is positioned in a vertical linedirectly under the type. This selection of the particular type isobtained by rotating the handle I01 of the spindle I0 until the properline of type is in printing position.

For example, if butter is to be printed, the word butter will appearupon the front face of the drum radially from its center and when saidword butter is alined with the pointer l2, the type drum is checked inits rotation due to engagement of the indenture l2 with a correspondingdepression 13.

Hence, in each printing operation, the drum is moved step by step andthe article desired to be printed upon the tape is in radial alinementwith a depression 13 and correspondin type. The operator, due to theopening II in the housing may visualize the printing drum and itsvarious lines of type at all times.

In some instances we may extend the channels I 6 upon the periphery ofthe drum throughout the length of said drum and utilize elongated slugsI 1 carrying the indicator type.

In order to print the various commodities,

shown upon the type of the sleeve [4, we provide a printing arm [8,which arm is mounted upon a pivot pin [9 carried by the housing ear 3,there being a spring 20 mounted in the pivot pin and engaging a stud 20'extending from the side walls of the arm, whereby said arm is heldupwardly under spring tension.

The free end of the arm has journaled therein a carbon roller 2|. Theroller is secured to a rod 22 journaled in the side walls of the arm andterminates, at one end, with a crank 22'. The end wall of the roller 2|,adjacent to the crank end of the rod 22, is formed with a series ofindentures 23, one of which normally engages a tit 23', depressed intothe juxtaposed wall of the printing arm l8.

The face of the roller 2! has fitted thereover a carbon sheet 24 havingits ends locked into a kerf 24 extending lengthwise of the rollersurface, whereby the carbon sheet is securely held and may be replacedwhen desired. Owing to the above arrangement of the carbon roller, whenthe carbon sheet, at the printing point, has become worn, the operatormay shift the position of the carbon roller by movement of the crank rod22 a predetermined distance, whereby the roller will be frictionallyheld in a position to present a new surface of carbon paper or sheet tothe type drum.

In order to impart a step by step feed move ment to the paper tape,after each printing operation we provide a feed finger 25, which fingeris pivoted to the arm 18 and its free end, having a crowned frictionshoe 25' thereon, rests by gravity, upon the upper surface of the tape.

From the foregoing description, it is apparent when a printing operationis desired, the proper line of type is brought to the printing point, bymovement of the drum, directly under the paper. Thereafter the operatordepresses the printing arm I8, whereby the carbon faced roller willengage the upper face of the paper at the printing point and thusreproduce the type, at said point, upon the upper face of the paper, asindicated in Figure 3 of the drawings, whereby said face of the paperwill show a line of printed articles such as butter, cheese, coffee, andthe like. Owing to the adhesion of thetape, in a printing operation, theback or rearward movement of the shoe simply slides over the tape, dueto the adhesion and when the next line of tape is brought to theprinting point this manual operation will free the tape from itsadhesion, so that feed of said tape in the next operation by theprinting arm is positive.

After the printed list is completed, the operator manually pulls thefree end of the tape through the shear strip 8, to expose said printedlist upon the strip whereby it may be manually sheared off by thecutting edge of the same.

It is also apparent, when the arm moves downwardly for a printingoperation, with each movement, the feed finger will move forward toshift the paper tape one space, whereby a clear field upon the tape ispresented for the next printing operation.

It is understood that these machines may be used with equal results in ahousehold kitchen for recording a list of articles wanted or it may beused in stores where it will materially save time and insure accuracy.

It is also understood that the tape aside from printing a list ofvarious articles for store purposes, the said tape may be provided withsuitable advertising literature.

We claim:

A printing machine comprising a housing, a tape mounted upon thehousing, a forwardly disposed circular opening in one side wall of thehousing having a yielding journal ear extending into the opening, aspring tensioned paper tape roll journaled in the rear end of the saidhousing, type faced drum journaled in one side wall of the housing andyielding journal ear, over which the tape is adapted to travel, frictionlocking means between the drum and ear, a spring controlled manuallyactuated printing arm pivoted at the rear end of said housing above thebed thereof, a carbon roller mounted in the free end of the printing armin vertical alignment with the axis of the type drum, a gravitycontrolled feed finger pivoted to the printing arm, the finger having acrowned friction feed shoe engageable with the tape, the said fingerbeing extended forwardly and downwardly from its pivot for engagementand forward feed of the tape, when the printing arm is depressed,followed by a printing operation of the carbon roller to cause a slightadhesion of the tape by the finger, to eliminate back feed thereof and ashear strip under which the tape is manually drawn after a completeprinting operation to expose the printed list of items, which list isthen manually severed from the tape by the shear strip.

EMERY M. HANRAHAN. WILLIAM A. MERTINS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Wheelbarger June'7, 1938

